Someone asked me the other day if smart lighting was just another upsell. He basically wanted to know if he was paying extra money just to turn lights on and off from his phone. I laughed because honestly, I used to think the exact same thing. A few years back I probably would’ve told him yeah, save your money.
But after doing installs all over Phoenix for a while now, I see it differently. Not because the technology is impressive or whatever. I really don’t care about that. It’s more that it fixes annoying little problems people already deal with.
Heat’s where everyone gets nervous, and I get it. Electronics and Arizona summers are a bad combination if you don’t know what you’re doing. Last summer in Gilbert I pulled out this transformer from someone’s yard that had been sitting in full sun with basically no airflow around it. Thing was completely cooked. The plastic casing was warped and inside it smelled burned. But that wasn’t because it was a smart transformer that was terrible placement and was probably cheap equipment to start with.
Quality equipment holds up fine if you install it right. Airflow matters. Where you actually mount this stuff matters way more than people realize. I’ve got systems running for three, four years now without any problems. Almost every failure I see comes back to someone using cheap consumer gear or just putting it wherever was convenient instead of where it should actually go.
Security is a subject people don’t think about until I bring it up. Especially in places like Queen Creek or San Tan Valley where lots are big, neighbors aren’t that close, and it gets really dark at night. Being able to trigger lights with motion or turn on specific zones from your phone when you’re not home, that actually makes a difference.
I had this family in San Tan that travels constantly for work. They used to leave every light on the whole time they were gone because they didn’t trust timers and didn’t want the house looking empty. Now they can check their cameras and turn on just the lights they want when they want them. Their power bill went down and they said they feel way better about leaving. That’s not some gimmick, that’s just practical.
Most smart systems run on LEDs now which is good because they stay cool even after running for hours. Old halogen setups used to get hot enough to actually burn you if you touched them wrong. Adding that kind of heat to a Phoenix yard in July never made any sense to me. Plus LEDs use way less power which helps when your AC’s already running nonstop for four months straight.
Where some people really get into it is the creative side. Did this project up in North Scottsdale last year, lot of native plants, saguaros, that whole desert look. We set up a few different lighting scenes for them. Nothing crazy, just normal everyday lighting, something brighter for when they had people over, and then a softer setup they could use when they wanted things more relaxed. With traditional lighting you’d need multiple switches and dimmers and it’s a whole thing. Smart system, it’s just easy.
Now all that said, smart lighting’s not for everybody and that’s totally fine. Some people want simple, they want it done, they don’t want to mess with apps or settings. A traditional system with a decent astronomical timer still works great for that. If you don’t care about the extra options, then don’t pay for them.
Where people screw themselves is trying to DIY this stuff with whatever they find on Amazon and mounting it wherever there’s room. That fails fast out here. You need equipment that’s actually built for the climate and you need to install it with some thought. Then it holds up.
Every property’s different anyway. A little courtyard setup in Tempe’s not the same as a big spread out lot in Cave Creek. What matters is doing what actually works for how someone actually uses their outdoor space, not just selling them the most expensive system because you can.